Sep 13, 2015 6 min read

The debut of Peyton Manning’s new mashup offense was a dud. Not so Denver’s dazzling defense, which came up huge Sunday in a 19-13 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Former Ravens safety Darian Stewart, who followed Gary Kubiak from Baltimore to Denver over the winter, snatched the ball from tight end Crockett Gillmore in the end zone with 28 seconds left to seal the win for the four-time defending AFC West champs.

Joe Flacco drove the Ravens to the Denver 16 in the final minute. One play before Stewart’s interception, cornerback Brady Roby got a hand in Steve Smith Sr.’s face and a would-be touchdown catch bounded away from the veteran receiver.

Neither offense found the end zone.

Cornerback Jimmy Smith’s 24-yard pick-6 was Baltimore’s only touchdown and Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib responded with a 51-yard interception return for a TD that put Denver ahead for good 16-13.

Baltimore six-time Pro Bowl selection Terrell Suggs tore his left Achilles, coach John Harbaugh announced after the game.

“I don’t even know what happened out there,” Harbaugh said. “All of a sudden, I look back and he was on the ground. But these are the things in life that happen. Adversity is all about how you respond to it, how you react to it.”

St. Louis 34, Seattle 31, OT: Needing a yard again, Seattle handed off to Marshawn Lynch this time. It still didn’t work.

The Rams stopped the running back short of a first down, making Greg Zuerlein’s 37-yard field goal in overtime decisive.

St. Louis survived an 18-point fourth quarter rally by the Seahawks, who famously passed from the 1 in last February’s Super Bowl and were intercepted by New England to lose.

Down 31-24 with 53 seconds left, the Rams tied the game after Seahawks defensive back Dion Bailey stumbled on Lance Kendricks’ 37-yard touchdown catch. Cary Williams’ strip of Nick Foles and 8-yard return had put Seattle up by a touchdown.

The Seahawks opened overtime with an onside kick; Bradley Marquez caught Steven Hauschka’s popped-up attempt. Officials ruled the ball was kicked directly in the air, so Marquez was OK to signal for a fair catch.

San Diego 33, Detroit 28: Philip Rivers rallied San Diego to 30 straight points, including throwing a go-ahead, 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ladarius Green early in the fourth quarter, and the Chargers stunned the Detroit Lions 33-28 in what could be their final home opener at Qualcomm Stadium.

Rivers overcame two interceptions, including a 31-yard return for a touchdown by Glover Quin, to complete 35 of 42 passes for 404 yards and two scores. Keenan Allen had 15 catches for 166 yards.

The Chargers trailed 21-3 after Matthew Stafford threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Eric Ebron midway through the second quarter.

Cincinnati 33, Oakland 13: Andy Dalton threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns and Jeremy Hill ran for two scores to help the Cincinnati Bengals spoil coach Jack Del Rio’s debut in Oakland .

Dalton had it easy all day long as he faced little pressure and often had receivers running free in the Raiders secondary. He connected on two touchdown passes with tight end Tyler Eifert as the Bengals (1-0) broke out to a 33-0 lead and coasted.

Green Bay 31, Chicago 23: Aaron Rodgers threw for three touchdowns, two to James Jones, and the Packers beat Chicago to spoil John Fox’s debut as Bears coach.

The Packers got all they could handle from the rebuilding Bears, but took control down the stretch to beat them for the 10th time in 11 games, including the postseason.

Buffalo 27, Indianapolis 14: Tyrod Taylor engineered three touchdown drives and Rex Ryan’s attacking Buffalo defense put the clamps on Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.

In his first career start, Taylor went 14 of 19 for 195 yards, including a 51-yard opening touchdown pass to Percy Harvin. Boobie Dixon and rookie Karlos Williams scored touchdowns rushing to deliver Ryan a win in his debut as Bills head coach.

The Bills built a 24-0 lead. Luck was 26 of 49 for 243 yards and two touchdowns, and was intercepted twice.

Kansas City 27, Houston 20: Alex Smith threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns in the first half against the mistake-prone Texans.

Travis Kelce caught two touchdown passes in the first quarter, the first coming after Kansas City intercepted Brian Hoyer on his first throw as a Texan.

The Chiefs were up by 14 in the second quarter when Justin Houston sacked Hoyer, forcing a fumble. Kansas City recovered it and a 7-yard touchdown reception by Jamaal Charles pushed the lead to 27-6.

Miami 17, Washington 10: Jarvis Landry returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown with 10:22 left to give Miami its first lead.

Landry’s score broke open a tight game in which the Redskins amassed more yards and dominated the time of possession, but could not pull away.

N.Y. Jets 31, Cleveland 10: Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two touchdown passes and Chris Ivory ran for two scores in coach Todd Bowles’ debut.

The Jets (1-0) had five takeaways against the Browns, including an interception of Johnny Manziel, who came in late in the first quarter for the injured Josh McCown.

Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker had touchdown catches for the Jets, who sent the Browns (0-1) to their 11th straight opening-day loss. Fitzpatrick finished 15 of 24 for 179 yards.

Manziel was 13 of 24 for 182, including a 54-yard touchdown to Travis Benjamin.

Arizona 31, New Orleans 19: Carson Palmer threw three touchdown passes in his first game back from a torn ACL and the Arizona Cardinals opened their season with a 31-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

Drew Brees threw for 355 yards.

Carolina 20, Jacksonville 8: Josh Norman returned an interception for a touchdown, and the Panthers did just enough offensively. Norman provided the big play in the third quarter when he stepped in front of a pass intended for rookie running back T.J. Yeldon near the sideline and went untouched the other way for a 30-yard score.

Tennessee 42, Tampa Bay 14: Marcus Mariota made it look easy, throwing four touchdown passes and outplaying No. 1 overall draft pick Jameis Winston to lead the Tennessee Titans to season-opening victory.

The highly anticipated debut for the rookie quarterbacks was one-sided from the start. Mariota threw for 209 yards without an interception to join Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton as the only players to throw four or more TD passes in their first NFL game.